Following the hype over artificial intelligence,Ubisofthas recently announced its plan to embrace AI for developers of all levels. While AI has already been used in game development for many years now, the recent trend of generative AI is poised to disrupt many sectors of the creative industry, asshown by AI models such as ChatGPTand Midjourney. Not wanting to wait too long, Ubisoft is apparently ready to go all in and take advantage of the technology.
AI has become a very hot topic to discuss ever since OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in November 2022. Given how closely tied the video game industry is to technology, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that AI already has its place in game studios' suite of productivity tools. Last March, a developer demonstrated howAI like ChatGPT can be used to create a video game from scratch in next to no time, concluding that the technology is very transformative to game developers.
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In its financial report for the 2022/23 fiscal year, Ubisoft expressed its interest inusing generative AI for game development. “As the world adopts Generative AI at a record pace, GDC 2023 demonstrated its immense potential to profoundly transform creative industries. Ubisoft is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation, with a strong game technology expertise, over 20 years of proprietary data and assets, and a rich portfolio. Internally, early adoption is fast, with creators and developers of all levels experimenting with the technology and taking advantage of the booming Generative AI landscape. With them, Ubisoft is shaping a responsible framework with talent management and fair use at heart,” Ubisoft wrote.
“In parallel, teams are leveraging years-long R&D efforts in AI and Machine Learning applications, especially through La Forge, to identify the best use cases and harness the power of this technology to have a positive impact on creativity, workflows, and players' experience,” Ubisoft added. One example of such endeavor has actually been unveiled by the company few months ago. Back at the GDC 2023,Ubisoft introduced an in-house AI tool called Ghostwriterto assist scriptwriters in generating NPC barks.
Ubisoft’s announcement regarding its AI plans comes as the company suffered from a fairly disappointing fiscal year. Revenues were down quite significantly compared to the previous year, andUbisoft recently laid off 60 employees without any advance notice. An ambitious plan to take advantage of AI certainly won’t help the company maintain its relationship with its workers, especially knowing that AI has the potential to take over some of their job descriptions.
While Ubisoft hasn’t said anything about when players can expect to see the work of generative AI in its games, Ubisoft already has a history of embracing new technologies way earlier than other studios. Back in 2021, Ubisoft was one of the first major studios to introduce NFTs in its game. Although that initiative didn’t last long, it doesn’t stop the company from experimenting more with the technology, as can be seen from the freshly announcedAssassin’s Creed-themed NFTs.
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